Apparatus for making razor blades



2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Oct. 18, 1966 c APPARATUS FOR MAKING RAZOR BLADES Filed March 22, 1965INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 B. J. cRAG APPARATUS FOR MAKING RAZOR BLADES Oct. 18,1966 Fied March 22, 1965 United States Patent O 3,279,032 APPARATUS FORMAKING RAZOR BLADES Burnie J. Craig, 1402 La Presa Drive, Pasadena,Calif. Filed Mar. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 441,782 8 Claims. (Cl. 29-33) Thisinvention relates to an apparatus for making safety razor blades whichare of the single edged and/or double edged types and which are clampedin razor frames for use, and the invention pertains more specifically toan apparatus for making safety razor blades which are provided with aprimary cutting edge or core portion which is too thin for use by itselfand which has a body adhering to the primary cutting edge or coreportion ;to provide the required support for the cutting edge or coreportion, so that the blade may be worked, sharpened and supported in arazor frame for the shaving act.

Conventional safety razor blades are usual-ly from 0.003 to 0.015 inchthick and have facets which provide a wedge-shaped cutting edge, theincluded solid angle of the facets is usually greater than 14 and lessthan 35. The faceting on each cutting edge need not have only one set ofplanar uninterrupted continuous surfaces or facets, but may consist oftwo or more sets of faoets, as for example primary and secondary facetsformed by successive grinding or honing Operations and intersecting eachother along zones generally parallel to the ultimate edge.

The prmary facet, i.e., the facet immediately adjacent the ultimateedge, may have a width at its base as little as 0.0003 in-ch or evenless as compared to the diameter of a beard hair which averages about0.004 to 0.005 inch, while the thickness of the ultimate edge itself isgenerally less than 6000 Angstrom units and preferably less than 2500Angstrom units.

The primary facets form an isosceles triangle, the base of whichtriangle has a length equal to the thickness of the base of the prirnaryfacets which as stated may be .0003 inch or less. The included solidangle of the primary facets as stated above may be 14 to 35 Assumingthat the base is .0003 inch in length and the included solid angle is 26then the altitude of the isosceles triangle formed by the primary facetswill be approximately .00065 inch.

The primary facet which provides the ultimate edge includes all of theblade which performs the shaving act. This minute cutting area edgeportion emboded in the primary facet is all that is needed for shaving.The rest of the blade has the sole function of supporting the primaryfacet area.

This extremely thin and narrow blade edge or primary facet is too smallin dimensions, too flexible, too brittle, et cetera, to be worked duringmanufacture or to be handled by a user of a razor and the primary facetedge portion is so small that it could not be held in a razor for theshaving act.

The secondary facets, as stated, have no function as far as shaving isconcerned. The secondary faeets which extend from the primary facetshave an included solid augle which is less than the solid angle includedby the primary facets to provide clearance so that the body whichsupports the primary facets will not obstruct movement of the razor inlthe shaving act.

It i-s desirable that safety razor blades for use in blade holders bemade of material which will take and hold a sharp edge for a maximumnumber of shaves.

Such blades, whether used in single edged injector razors, in doubleedged razors or in other razors, must have certain length and width andmust be ground or honed to a desired degree of keenness Most razorblades in use today are made of high carbon or stainless steel ice* andwhen made of such material ret-ain their sharpness for a number ofshaves.

Some other materials such as tungsten carbide, diamond impregnatedmaterial, Phosphor bronze, ceramic materials, glas/s, et cetera, have insome instances the advantage that they will last much longer and inother instances will provide a more comfortable shave than the highcarbon and stainless steel blades mentioned above. Blades made, however,from ;the more desirable material are apt to cost more because thematerial used is more expensive, so that the added blade life and theadded comfort in shaving may be Secured only at a higher cost per blade.

Also, blades made from some of the more desirable materials arediflicult to work to the size required to fit the standard razor frame.Some blades may be too brittle to handle and to clamp in a razor frame.Also blades made from some of the other materi-als available must be soextremely thin that they are not strong or rigid enough and requirestiffeniug rein-forcemeut for the shaving operation.

The applicant has found that a razor blade having the prim-ary facetsthereon arranged on .a core containing a minimum amount of the betterand/or more expensive material and with the core having a stiffening andsupporting body of low cost material adherently connected, will providea razor blade which can be worked, handled, and suitably supported in arazor frame and which will have a superior, longer lasting shaving edge,and can be made at a low cost.

The objects and advantages of the invention will be a pparent from thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional View showing a single edged blade;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the core;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the core with the body thereon;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view with parts in elevation showingthe abrasive wheels and the manner in which the primary facets areformed;

FIG. 5 is a View similar to FIG. 4 showing the formation of thesecondary facets;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic top plan View showing an a pparatus for makinga single edged blade;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an elevation of a single edged blade;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary enlarged elevational View showing blade details;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a double edged blade;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic plan view showing an apparatus for making `adouble edged blade;

FIG. 12 shows a blank for making a single edged blade wherein the coreextends substantially the full width of the blade;

FIG. 13 shows a blank for making a double edged blade wherein the coreextends substantially the full width of the blade;

FIG. 14 shows a full width core for a single edged blade;

FIG. 15 shows a full width core for a double edged blade;

FIG. 16 shows a ribbon of notched single edged blades;

FIG. 17 shows a ribbon of single edged blades without notches;

FIG. 18 `shows a ribbon of notched double edged blades; and

FIG. 19 shows a ribbon of unnotched double edged blades.

Refern'ng t-o the :drawing by reference characters the features of thisinventi-on are shown ina razor blade wihich is adapted for clamping in ar-azor trame and which is indicated, on a greatly enlarged scale,generally at 10.

As shown the blade includes a core 11 and a body 12. The core 11 is theshaving portion and preferablly c o-mprises :a thin layer or foil ofmaterial which is hard and suitable to be sharpened but which is toothin :and fiexible to be handled and requires support.

The body 12 serves to stifen and reinforce the core 11 and providesmeans to support the core while it 'is being worked and also to supportthe blade when it is fitted in the head portion of a razor.

The core 11 may be -approximately .0005 inch to .001 inch thick orthicker and may be made of any suitable hard material which can bepre-formed to the desired sharpe and which when sharpened will provide a,comforta'b le shave and will have a long life. Among the materials fromwhich the core 11 may be made -are carbides (such as tungsten carbide),steel alloys, diamond impregnated material, Phosphor bronze, glass,ceramic materials, et cetera.

The body 12 may be approxi-m-ately .004 inoh thick or thicker and may bemade of metal, such as steel, brass, metal al-loy, ceramics, plasti-cs,glass fiber pl'astics, metal fiber plastics and other materials.

'Dhe core 11 is shown -as mounted in a s1=ot 13 in the body portion 'andit may be occured in place by adhesion, by welding, et cetera. In thetyepe of blade shown in FIG. 1 the core ends at 14 remote from the unsharpened edge 15 of the blade.

'I'he core -at its exposed edge is provided with a primary facet 16 oneach side thereof to provide :an ultimate cutting edge 17. The primaryfacets 16, as stated above, 'may have an included solid angle which isgreater than 14 and less than 35". 'Dhe primary facets may have a width-as little as .0003 inoh With the ultimate extreme edge having athickness generally less than 6000 Angstrom units and preferably [lessthan 2500 Angstrom units.

The area of the body in the vicinity of the end 14 of the core andremote firom 'the primary facets 16 is adapted to be engaged by theclamping portion (not shown) of a razor trame to hold the blade in shaving position.

Intermediate each face of the core 11, and remote from the facets 16, Iprovide secondary facets 18 which intersect the primary fiacets 16 onthe core at 19 and continues a'long the body and terminates on the bodyat 20. The fiaceted portion 18 of the body 12 meets the taceted portion18 of the core 11 in -a feather edge 18', as shown in FIG. 1. As saresult of this Construction the body 12 fu rnishes substantial supportfor the core 11 throughout almost the entire length of the core.

'I he core continues past the termination 20 of the facets 18 for ashort distance as for instance .1 nc'h and the facets 18 include alesser solid' angle than do the' facets 16. The width of the facets 18may approxim ate .1 inch so that the overall width of the core may be'about .2 inch. T'he blade may be about wide and about 1 /2 inches long,which are the dimensions of the conventional injector blades now beingmarketed.

The 'blade is adapted for use in the well known injector type of razorsin which used blades are discarded and new blades inserted.

The primary facets 16 and the seconda ry tacets 18 are shown -a-s hollowground and ,the primary tacets a re preferably ground first while .theblade blank is strong at the edge being ground. 'Dhe secondary facetsmay preferab ly be ground after the first f acets are fol-med. Byemploying the order of grinding as set forth the blade edge may besharpened to what is believed to be the best advantage. Other procedurein the blade grrinding and in honing and/ or polishi ng may be followed.

A novel appalratus for the mamfiacture of the blade described isin-dicated general-ly (FIGS. 6 and 7) at 25. As shown, the apparatusincludes conveyor means, shown as rolls 26 for conveying a ribbon 27 ofmaterial for forming the core 11 previously described. 'I' he ribbon isshown as rectangular in cross section, in FIG. 2.

The rolls 26 advance the ribbon to a notching station A. This notchingstation may include gangs of V shaped wheels 28 which are mounted on :acarn'age `29 and are sui-tably driven. 'The carriage 29 moves With theadvancing ribbon 25 to the left in FIG. 1 and during its advanci ngmovement it moves laterally 'and cut-s V-shaped spaced notches 30 .alongone edge of the ribbon. The notches 30' are spaced in accordance withthe length of the finished blade.

After the carriage has reached the limit of its forward movement (to theleft in FIG. 1) it will move latera lly to 'bring the wheels out ofcontact with the strip. 'Dhe canriage wi-ll then move to the right toits initial position and the notching operation will be repeated. 'Dhegang of abrasive wheels 28 may include any suitable number of wheels.Carriages operated like the carriages 29 are well known in the grindingand polishing art. If notching is not desired station A will bedea-ctivatcd or the station may be entirely omitted.

From notching station A the ribbon 27 advances to an extruding orcovering station B where the body 12, previously described, is appliedto the ribbon 27. As shown, station B includes a chamber 31 whichchamber may contain a supply of the extrusion material 32.

The material 32 may be supplied to the chamber 31 through a conduit 32The chamber 31 includes a discharge orifice 33 through which the ribbon27 passes and as it does so it is covered by the extruded material 32.In this manner the ribbon 27 is provided with the body 12, -as shown inFIG. 3. Guides 33 hold the ribbon disposed in the median plane midwaybetween the sides of the body 12 as the body is extruded so that thebody 12 is symmetrical With respect to the median plane of the core tothus provide a reversible blade. The extruded material 32 enters thenotches 30 and forms cars 34 (FIG. 9) which engages the wall of thenotches 30 to prevent shifting of the core 11 in the body 12. Thematerial extruded onto the core will be of such a nature that it Willadhere to the core.

The covered ribbon now forms a blank blade strip 25 which moves from theorifice 33 into a treating chamber 36 at station C where the body 12provided by the extruson is cured or otherwise finished. In the eventthat -no curlng or treatment of the extrusion is required, the blankblade strip 35 :may pass through station C Without 'being opera ted uponor station C may be entirely omitted.

The blank blade strip next proceeds to station D which, as shown,includes a housing 37 in which are arranged rotary punc'hing rolls 38 bymeans of which the blank blade strip 35 may be purched with circular orelongated holes usually found in Convention-al safety razor blades.

The punchin g rolls 38 may also punch out the body above the ears 34FIG. 9) so that the upper portion of the notches 30 will be exposed.Station D may be deactvated for some blades or the station may beentirely omitted as desired. To avoid confusion by too many lines in thedrawing, the strip 35 is shown as imperforate in FIGS. 6'

and 7 and station D is presumed to be deactiv-ated.

The blank blade strip may be advanced in any suitable manner, forexample by rolls 39 which en-gage the blank blade strip 35 beyondstation D and advance the strip to station E, whereat one edge of thestrip is sharpened. Stati on E includes a facetin-g device whichembodies a sup-. port as indicated at 40. The support 40 is stationaryand the strip is faceted 'as it moves across the support. r

The support 40 includes gangs of abrasive wheels 41 and 42 which areshown as arranged in pairs and are suitably driven. The wheels 41 and 42work on opposite sides of the strip 35 to form the primary facets 16,previously mentioned; The support 40 is stationary and the wheels 41, 42and 43 perform the grinding operation while the blank strip advances.The wheels shown provide hollow ground acets. Other types of wheels andsupport may be employed.

The covered and faceted blank blade strip 35 then advances to station F,where a cut-ofi device 44 which includes a carri-age 45 has cut-offwheels 46 which are disposed in gangs thereon.

'Ihe carriage 45 moves forward and to the left in FIG. 1 with the blankblade strip 35 and as the carriage moves with the extnuded strip thecut-off wheels .move across the strip to sever the strip into individualblades 46. After the blades are cut oli the wheels 46 move away from thestrip area while the strip is still advancing. After the wheels 46 havecleared the carriage, the latter moves to the right in FIG. 1, with thewheels 46 remaining in their retracted position to again start cuttingoperation at the proper time. Carriages and cut-oli devices like thecarriage 45 and the wheels 46 are well known in the art.

From cut-off station F the individual blades move into contact withupper and lower coating wheels 47 and 48 at station G. The wheels 47a-nd 48 .are suitably supplied with coating integument forming material49 (FIG. 1) of a character to be later described. The wheels 47 and 48coat the faceted edge of the individual blades as the blades move alongand the wheels are preferably so arranged that the coating covers boththe first and seoondary facets and extends beyond the seoondary facetssome distance along the ex truded material.

The application of various integument forming materials, such asfluoro-carbon, Teflon, et cetera, to the cu-tting edges of razor bladesto improve the shaving qualities of the blade is old and is in generalpractice. Such materials appled by coating or by condensing materialupon the blade and thereafter sintering the condensed material, and inother ways to form a strong bond between the ooating and the substrate.

The applicant has found that by employing a foil-lke core for the bladeand laminating the core, which is too thin for use alone, to a bodywhich strengthens the core for working, handling and use, he can providean improved blade. The addition of a coating 49 such as describedimproves the shavin g qualit-ies of such a lamina ted blade. Moreoverthe applicant has found that by extending the coating such as thatdescribed above across the core and onto the facets and some distancealong the faceted body so that the coatin-g crosses the feather edgewhere the body joins the core he provides a new function for thecoating, namely, that the bond between the core and the body is greatlystrengthened and the thin adhered coating gives greatly improvedmechan'ical support throughout the extent of the blade edge and reducesblade drag and increases smoothness of shave. The thickness of theintegument 49 does not appear to be critical nor need the thickness ofthe integument be uniform throughout its eXtent.

From station G the blades move to station H which includes a chamber 49in which the coating 49 is heat treated or otherwise cured. From stationH the blades move away individually for inspection and packaging.

Instead of the core 11 previously described the core may be wider andmay eXtend substantially across the body 12 to form a blank which insome instances may have better characteristics than have the blades withthe narrow cores. A ribbon from which such wide core may be made isshown in FIGS. 12 and 14 at 51. This ribbon is carried on rolls 26 likethe rolls .26 previously described. The m-anufacturing apparatus shownin FIGS. 1 and 2, which has been described as adapted to be used whenthe ribbons are narrow may also be employed in connection with theblades made from the wide ribbon 51.

When the wide core 51 is employed the core may have holes 52 therein.The extruded material 32 may pass through the :holes 52 from one side ofthe body to the other side of the body to form a rivet to anchor theextrusion to the ribbon.

The present invention also provides double edged blades and includesmethod and apparatus for making double edged blades.

In FIG. I show a reversible double edged blade 53 which is similar tothe single edged blade shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 11, I show an apparatusfor making the double edged blade, which apparatus is similar to theapparatus previously described and shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In describingthe blade and apparatus shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 parts similar to thosepreviously described will be referred to by single primed referencenumerals.

In the apparatus of FIG. 11 two narrow ribbons 55 are advanced by rolls26' to a notching station A' where the outer edges of the two ribbons 55are notched. The notched ribbons then advance to the extruding stationB' where the ribbons are covered with a body form-ing material 12' whichunites the ribbons 55 and forms a blank strip 56.

The blank blade strip 56 m-ay then move to a treating station C' -forcuring. The blank blade strip 56 may be suitably punehed at station D'.Feed rolls 39' move the double edged blank blade strip to station E'where faceting of both edges of the blank blade may occur. From stationE' the double edged 'blank advances to station F' where :the blank isout into blade lengths. The individual blades 46' may then move tostation G' where they may be coated and then to station H' where theblade coatings may be cured.

Instead of employing individual spaced ribbons for the double edgedblade, I may make the core of a single member which may be as wide asthe entire body. In FIG. 13 such a wide blade core 60 is employed. Thecore may be advanced by rolls 26' as shown in FIG. 15. The progress ofthe wide insert through the manufacturing apparatus will be the same asthat previously described. The core 60 may have holes 61 therein tocause the eX- truded material to pass through these holes to formanchorage.

In FIG. 16, I show a continuous ribbon of single edged blades 70 instrip form and with notches 30 and the holes 52 previously described.The ribbon of blades in FIG. 16 may have a narrow or a wide core as:previously described. A ribbon of blades of this nature may be used ina reel type magazine razor which employs a spool for used blades and aspool of unused blades and wherein when a blade becomes dull it may beadvanced to the used spool and a new blade from the unused spoolsubstituted. In this connection the notches 30 in addition to thefunctions recited above are useful for indexing the advance of theribbon of blades.

In FIG. 17, the continuous ribbon of blades 71 is similar to thatpreviously described but the notches 45 and the holes 52 are omitted.The core in the ribbon of blades 71 may be narrow or wide.

FIG. 16 show-s a notched continuous ribbon 73 of double edged bladessimilar to the strip of single edged blades shown in FIG. 16. The ribbon73 is notched and has holes previously described. In FIG. 19 a ribbon ofnotched double edged blades 74 is shown. This ribbon 74 has no edgenotches and no holes 61. In FIGS. 18 and 19 the ribbon of blades mayhave a pair of narrow cores or a single wide core as previouslydescribed.

Having thus described the invention I claim:

1. An apparatus for making a razor blade comprising means to advance athin core, means to guide the core, means to apply a reinforcingmaterial to the core as it advances and means to work one edge of thecore to form a facet along each side of said one edge.

2. In an apparatus for making a razor blade, means to advance a ribbonof thin and flexible core material, means to cover the ribbon of coremateral with a body to form a blade blank, means to thereafter facet oneedge of the ribbon core and body to provde a sharpened edge, and othermeans to thereafter apply a coating to the ribbon and body along thefaceted edge.

3. In an apparatus for making a razor blade, means to advance a ribbonof thin and fiexible core material, means to notch the core material atblade length intervals as it advances, means to cover the ribbon of corematerial as it advances with a body which enters the core notches andanchors the ribbon core to the body to form a blade blank, means tothereafter facet one edge of the ribbon core and body to provide asharpened edge, and other means to thereafter apply a coating to theribbon core and body along the faceted edge.

4. An apparatus for making a strip of double edged razor bladescomprsing means to advance spaced core rbbons which are thin and hard,and are too narrow and fiexible to be worked, and means to extrude bodyforming material about and between the spaced core rbbons to unite therbbons and form the body of a double edged blade.

5. An apparatus for making a double edged razor blade comprising meansto advance spaced core rbbons which are thin and hard, and are toonarrow and fleXible to be held in a razor for shaving purposes, means tosecure body forming material about and between the spacecl core rbbonsto unit them and form the body of a double edged blade and means tofacet the outer edges of each core ribbon to provide cutting edges.

6. An apparatus for making a blade blank including means to advance athin, exible core member, means to secure a stiffening and reinforcingbody member to the flexible core member as the core member advances, andmeans to maintain the fiexible core member in planar position as thecore member advances while the stiffening and reinforcing body member isbeing Secured thereto to thereby produce a blade blank.

7. An apparatus for making a razor blade from a razor blade blank, whichblade blank includes a thin flexible core member and a stitfeningreinforcing body member Secured to the thin flexible core member, saidapparatus including means engaging the reinforcing body member toadvance the blade blank, said engaging means being remote from at leastone edge of the core member so that the at least one edge of the coremember can be worked, and faceting means to facet the at least one edgeof the core member as the blade blank advances to produce a blade havingat least one cutting edge.

8. An apparatus for making a razor blade from a razor blade blank, whichblade blank consists of a core member which is thin and flexible and hasa reinforcing and stifening body member attached thereto, said apparatusincluding means to facet at least one edge of the core member to form acutting edge and to facet the body member adjacent to the core member,there being a feather edge at the location where the facet on the coremember meets the facet on the body member, and additional means to applyan integument to the feather edge and to the core member and body memberat each side of the feather edge.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,002,690 5/ 1935Carter 207-104 2,214,0l6 9/ 1940 Duclos 207-104 2,243,031 5/ 1941 Fogg207-104 References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,732,244 10/ 1929 Salzman. 1,942,025 1/ 1934 Frost. 2,073,5 02 3/ 1937Stargardter. 2,893,900 7/ 1959 Machlin.

RICHARD H. EANES, JR., Primary Exam'er.

1. AN APPARATUS FOR MAKING A RAZOR BLADE COMPRISING MEANS TO ADVANCE ATHIN CORE, MEANS TO GUIDE THE CORE, MEANS TO APPLY A REINFORCINGMATERIAL TO THE CORE AS IT ADVANCES AND MEANS TO WORK ONE EDGE OF THECORE TO FORM A FACET ALONG EACH SIDE OF SAID ONE EDGE.